I ate yogurt, orange juice, granola, whipped cream and blackberries for breakfast.
At noon I made chicken salad. I diced four stalks of celery, boiled, peeled, and diced three eggs, added a dash of white balsamic Vinegar, a cup of mayonnaise, a couple T. of olive oil, a couple dashes of curry powder, and finely minced one sprig of fresh tarragon, 1/3 of a yellow onion, one breast of roasted chicken, 1 tsp. of dried marjoram, salt and white pepper. When I finally stirred in the egg the ingredients emulsified into a thick paste.
It was almost 1:00 when Suzette said she would return, so I toasted two slices of German whole wheat bread and spread them with chicken salad and ate them with a glass of Emma Richard rose’.
Suzette arrived at 1:15 and we packed the ice chest with the chicken salad, the bag of Romaine lettuce hearts, the wedge of Iberico cheese I bought at Trader Joe’s Tuesday, a slab of Lax, the cream cheese, the ½ of a red onion, the bag of bagels, the rack of lamb and bag of asparagus I bought at Costco on Tuesday, several tomatoes, and three bottles of wine a Gran Reserva Rioja, a Sparking Sophia, and a rose’.
We were on the road before 2:00 and arrived a few minutes after 4:00 just after Barry arrived. We agreed he had been stopped near the front of a long line of cars in the canon by construction of a new gas line that we joined just as the light turned yellow.
We brought in our foodstuffs and put them into the fridge and then our grips and then I lay down for a few minutes to rest.
At 4:45 we drove to Monte Sagrado and arrived a couple of minutes after 5:00. After hanging our coats we started drinking. The first wine tasted was a 2012 Ridge Montebello Winery Cabernet Sauvignon, which was delicious, perfect for my first taste, because after that it was a blur of 1 ½ hour’s of eating and drinking. There was lots of good food offerings this year by the Taos restaurants. One I particularly like was raw Blue Point oysters on the half shell garnished with capers, chopped ham and red onion and garnished with a truffle fume’. I ate two of those. Pork belly seemed to be the meat du jour this year. LoveApple served tacos filled with slices of pork belly, onions,
tomatoes, and a few other ingredients. Common Ground served pork belly two ways on slices of its house made baguette with a squirt of truffle oil ; smoked in its wood fired oven and the other su vide and flame seared at the serving table by an assistant. I liked the su vide better because it was more tender. The chef at the Sagebrush cured mahi-mahi with Jamaican jerk sauce which was terrible and his usual wonderful Scottish salmon. We finished with bites of a lovely cannoli by Mondo Italiano filled with creamy slightly sweetened marsacapone.
Suzette was into food pairings this year. Her favorite was white marinated anchovies eaten with sips of an Italian white blend.
This year we decided to drink all types of wine rather than champagnes, then whites, and finally reds. As I mentioned I started with the Ridge Montebello Cab. I tended to prefer whites and I was not disappointed. I tried a wonderful Manzanilla style sherry from Estramadura near Cordova plus a nice white. I noticed this year that there are more smaller wine importers specializing in wines from local areas, such as Galicia or Estramadura, as well as lots of new wineries represented. My favorite new winery was Chehalem Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris. Here is their story in their own words:
“Our objective at Chehalem has always been to lead, rather than to follow, the industry norms or market trends. We look for deftness and elegance in Pinot Noirs at a time when black, opaque, extracted and heavily-wooded wines are the norm. We crop-thin Pinot Gris as aggressively as we do Pinot Noir, seeking optimal ripeness before harvesting. At a time when Riesling is being pulled out, Chehalem plants prime acres of this variety. We’re convinced it sensitively reflects site and climate for white wine, as Pinot Noir does for red.”
I particularly liked Chehalem’s Ribbon Ridge Pinot Noir, but there were lots of great wines served this evening.
A small vineyard specializing in Syrah. This is their Syrah/Grenache Rose’
This is the Spanish Manzanilla style sherry we like d
One white we all liked was a 2011 Chateau Laribeth Sauternes.
We talked to Gene Vance and his partner for a while and found out he is a wine aficionado and gourmet cook, when I thought he was only an excellent Owner-Resident law lawyer. Here is picture of them with Suzette and Barry.
Finally, at 6:30 we all decided to leave before we became seriously drunk and overate.
We got home in time to watch The Rachel Maddow Show and Suzette and I retired to bed about 8:30.
I am pleased that after twenty years of coming to the Taos Winter Wine Festival we have finally learned to exercise discretion and not overeat or drink.
Bon Appetit
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